Kinshasa was a village on the south bank of the Congo when Stanley passed through in 1877. He returned in 1881 and established Leopoldville on the banks of contemporary Kintambo and Ngaliema. A post was opened upriver at Kinshasa in 1883. In 1923 Leopoldville was named the capital, comprising both Kinshasa and Leopoldville, established at Kalina (now Gombe), while "old" Leopoldville remained the capital of the Province. The Leopoldville-Kinshasa agglomeration was renamed Kinshasa in 1966.

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

On September 8, 1957, the
Bracongo Brewery in Leopoldville hired an ex-convict named Patrice Lumumba to
work in its accounting department.Securing employment was a condition for his release from prison and his
selection for this particular position had support at the highest levels of the
Colonial government, including the office of then Colonial Minister Buisseret.
Bracongo was considered to be more liberal than the church-leaning Brasserie de
Leopoldville (renamed Bralima via merger in that year) (See June 12,2015). Within a year Lumumba was promoted to Commercial Director,
the first Congolese to hold such a position.

Patrice Lumumba around the time he was hired at Bracongo

The brewery recognized that an
articulate, charismatic Congolese who could go into the cité and meet with its
customers would be more effective than a white man.In addition, such promotion of a Congolese to a level of
responsibility – and salary – of a European could only improve the brewery’s
image in the eyes of African consumers. For Lumumba, it was also an opportunity to
make contacts to support his political aspirations.

The competition - Bralima's Primus on order (Photo Jean Depara)

Polar poster at a bar in Leopoldville

Lumumba began promoting
Bracongo’s “Polar” beer. He
frequented bars in the African cité and handed out chits for free beer. He
hired other promoters to tour the bars, created both male and female “Friends
of Polar” clubs, sponsored meetings of ethnic associations (the proto-political
parties of the time) and provided the product for funeral wakes.Polar began to make inroads in
the Leopoldville market, particularly among Congolese from Kasai Province
(where Lumumba was from) and the upper Congo River (Lumumba had been a postal
agent in Stanleyville, today’s Kisangani).

"Mamans Polar"

Polar beer coaster

After 15 months on the job,
Lumumba quit to actively engage in politics.Many of the bars he’d supported now served as meeting places
for his party, the Mouvement National Congolais. He remained highly identified
with the beer, and bar patrons were known to order in Lingala, “Pesa ngai
Lumumba” (Give me a Lumumba).Polar was bottled in a slender green bottle, and as the political
contest to become leader of Independent Congo sharpened between him and
shorter, stouter Joseph Kasavubu (See June 30, 2015),
Congolese pundits lost no time in linking the latter to Bralima’s squat round
bottle.

Polar publicity at the Grand Marche

Leopoldville bar patrons - Primus or Polar?

Lumumba was murdered in Katanga
January 17, 1961 -- less than 7 months as Prime Minister.After Lumumba’s assassination, Bracongo
replaced Polar with a new brew called SKOL, pundits again made politics out of
poculation asserting SKOL stood for “Solo Kasavubu Obomaki Lumumba?” (Is it
true, Kasavubu, that you killed Lumumba?).

SKOL bottle label

During the difficult economic
times that followed Independence, the breweries remained a mainstay of the local
economy.By the end of the
1960s, both Bralima and Bracongo (now Unibra) completed plant upgrading and
expansion programs.Unibra
increased production to 10,000 hectoliters per month and trained Congolese
staff for increased responsibility, including a master brewer.

Unibra beer coaster

During the mid-1960s, Unibra
received unsolicited publicity when the CIA’s “instant air force” staffed by
anti-Castro Cubans (See Jan. 27, 2014)
adopted the brewery’s black buffalo logo as its mascot. The Cuban force was
known as “Makasi” (“strong” in Lingala).

US-supplied B-26 at a forward airfield

At the beginning of the 1970s, Bralima
decided to get into the retail business and procured materials from the UK for
an English Tudor-style pub, which opened as “Kin’s Inn” in 1972 on Blvd. du
Trente Juin.Kin’s Inn became the
Orangeraie in 1988, but Kinois can still enjoy the faux Tudor décor at this
venerable eatery.

L'Orangeraie interior - 2000s

In October 1973, a new contender
appeared on the brewery scene, the Société des Brasseries de Kinshasa
(SBK), owned by the French Castel group.SBK produced luxury brands Regla, Okapi and Super Bock.

SBK's finest

November 30, 1973 Mobutu announced the Zairianization measures (See Mar. 20, 2015), which
had significant effect on the economy. SBK, developed under the 1969 Investment
code was exempt, but Bralima and Unibra, as colonial companies, were fair game.
A Mobutu crony, Litho Moboti, (See Sep. 12, 2011)
obtained a seat on the Bralima board. As the Zairian economy began a downturn (the
1973 oil shock did not help), Zairianization
was seen as the primary culprit.When in September 1975, soldiers of the Forces Armées
Zairoise (FAZ) were not paid, they threatened to loot Zairianized stores in the
capital. An order went out to find cash, and Bralima, among others made
payroll.An attempt by the
government to nationalize Bralima in 1977 failed. Strikes wracked the city that
July, and both Bralima and Unibra offered to raise wages 20%. Wildcat strikes
hit the breweries in 1979, as well.The pillages in 1991 and 1993
largely devastated the commercial and industrial bases of the city, but the
breweries were largely spared.

SKOL beer coaster from the 1990s

In February 1996, the Brasseries et Glacières Internationales (BGI), part of
the Castel Group, bought Unibra. SBK and Unibra were merged in April, though
the Unibra brand was maintained in the Zaire market. The previous year, BGI
acquired significant shares in the Katanga brewery, Brasimba, making it a
significant player in the national market. Heineken was by now a majority
shareholder in Bralima.The firm
acquired the Coca Cola bottling company assets in Congo. Bracongo produces
Skol, Nkoyi, Doppel Munich, 33 Export in Kinshasa as well as Simba and Tembo in
Katanga. Bralima attempted to enter the Katanga market, but Katangans were
inured to the supposed cachet of the Capital’s premier beer, remaining true to
their home brew.Bralima recently
introduced “N’Tay” (“eagle” in KiSwahili) for the local Katanga market.

Bracongo's Nkoyi targeted at the Kinshasa market

Publicity for Bralima's N'tay in Lubumbashi, Katanga

In June 2004, Bralima established
a museum at its complex on Ave. du Drapeau (Kabasele Tshamala) in
Kinshasa.At the same time, the
company demolished the 1920s era Art Deco structure which fronted the street
for decades. In 2009, the 1946 VanNeuten building was abandoned, while
retaining the brewing vats.